Would you bid on an auction the seller is probably shilling to your BIN offer?

[zonacats8]

I asked a seller days ago what he'd want to end an auction and do a BIN (no bids had been placed yet) and he asked what I was thinking.

I sent him a more than fair offer, honestly was a few bucks above what I thought it would end at auction, so when he went days without responding I didn't totally mind and then once a bid was put in, figured I'd get it for less than my offer anyways.

Now I go and look at the bid history and it looks to me like they could be shilling the auction. So to me, it feels like they know someone out there is willing to spend X on said card and is going to try and shill it to that amount at least.

I'd still have no problem paying X, maybe even a few bucks more if needed, but it's more the principle to me I guess.

I've had it happen a few times where I did this, sent an offer to add a BIN to a just started auction, only to then see a low feedback with high bid percentage with that seller then bid .01 less than what my BIN offer was. So maybe I'm just jaded from it happening a few times, but not really sure.

What would you guys do here?

[Chrisp253]

Find a different seller to buy from.

[CARDFR33K]

I've ran into this twice. once i offered a guy 350 for a card he got offended blocked me from even bidding and it went for 75 bucks at auction so he screwed himself. Another seller i wrote him offered him I wanna say 225 for a card I wanted. This seller said he would report me for throwing an offer on a auction style listing. Then he wrote me again to say and I quote "just bid really high and hope you win it". For hits and giggle I put in a 20 dollar bid. Card kept shooting up and up. it was obvious it was being shilled. 3 people shilling it with the same address as the seller all 0 star feedback etc. Then about a week later the seller wrote me to see if my offer still stood and I told him to buzz off. Shady people on ebay I sware, thinking they can get above top dollar from a real collector who knows market value they can all go die somewhere.

[zonacats8]

Originally Posted by Chrisp253

Find a different seller to buy from.

First and only time I've seen this card show up

Which is why I don't want to pass it up necessarily, but it just pisses me off so much when this happens as it's happened to me a few times. It's exactly why I hate sending an offer in those situation, much prefer it when a seller is letting me know what price it would take to get them to sell it as a BIN instead.

To me, that shows they are actually interested in making a deal as opposed to fishing for my max number. Then I can also judge if I think I could come to a deal with them based on that number, or just pass and try to win it at auction instead.

[zonacats8]

Originally Posted by CARDFR33K

I've ran into this twice. once i offered a guy 350 for a card he got offended blocked me from even bidding and it went for 75 bucks at auction so he screwed himself. Another seller i wrote him offered him I wanna say 225 for a card I wanted. This seller said he would report me for throwing an offer on a auction style listing. Then he wrote me again to say and I quote "just bid really high and hope you win it". For hits and giggle I put in a 20 dollar bid. Card kept shooting up and up. it was obvious it was being shilled. 3 people shilling it with the same address as the seller all 0 star feedback etc. Then about a week later the seller wrote me to see if my offer still stood and I told him to buzz off. Shady people on ebay I sware, thinking they can get above top dollar from a real collector who knows market value they can all go die somewhere.

Exactly my feelings

I know what this card would sell for at an honest auction for the most part, and normally when I'm wrong in those situations, I'm the second highest bidder and they would have made an extra 50 cents by letting it ride at auction.

Which is why I almost just don't want to bid anymore, but at the same time, don't want to miss out on the card while I have a chance to pick it up now. Ebay really needs to figure out someway to get rid of shill bidding, because it really screws up not just some listings, but it can really screw with an entire player/team/set market in general.

Granted, they have no reason to do anything about it since all it does is add money into ebay's pockets, but it's just become so damn frustrating to deal with. I'm much more likely to overpay on something as a BIN just to know I'm not dealing with a shady shiller.

I have also recently offered as much as like $35 on a card that the seller passed on, and ended up winning it for like 12 bucks or something like that. But this one right now that I'm talking about is already pretty close to my initial asking price thanks to the possible shilling

[ekalbnz]

I would wait it out for another just on the principal alone. Unless of course it is a 1/1 or maybe #d/5 or less.

[Chaz]

Unless its a 1/1 tell the seller to kick rocks

[Chrisp253]

I like your style chaz.. Thats exactly what i was thinking when i typed a more pc response lol

[Chaz]

Originally Posted by Chrisp253

I like your style chaz.. Thats exactly what i was thinking when i typed a more pc response lol

Thanks ya I mean if its not a 1/1 then I will take my chances elsewhere if the seller wants to play games

[corndog]

If you have a 2nd user ID, cancel your bids you made with the 1st ID and watch to see if he cancels the shill bids. Use your 2nd ID to make a bid at the last second.

Me, I would probably just avoid the seller altogether on principle.

[MC80_LCM]

Just snipe it. He can't shill you up to what you offered if you don't have a bid in. If it looks like its still being shilled you can always cancel the snipe. Also if its a rare card that you don't think you will see again you might just have to suck it up and buy it even if he is going to shill.

I'm always a little sketchy making an offer for this exact reason.